Out For a Second
by cyrusdragon
Summary: Starfire hasn't been in contact with earth for ten years. Now that the alien is twenty seven and her sister has been defeated, she may return to the planet where her friends are. What will she find? RobxStar, maybe BBxR
1. Of Towers, Friends, and a Broken Heart

**Full Summary and Pairings: Starfire had been brought back to Tamaran ten years ago. She'd lost contact with her friends and the beautiful planet she used to call home. Now that her sister has been defeated and Starfire is twenty-seven she is free to go back to Earth. What will she find when she gets there? Are her friends still friends? Or are they even alive? RobinxStarfire, maybe some BBxRaven. **

**Author Note: I basically don't have anything to say, but review (read it first… hehehe), please. Oh, and that this is almost the same thing as my other fic, Gone for a Few, except that Starfire leaves, not Raven. If you like this, check my other one out! And the end of this chapter is misleading… all you StarfirexRobin fans, fear not, this IS a RobinxStarfire fic (I'm a HUGE RobxStar fan… GO STAR AND ROB!)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans, any characters, places, costumes, e.t.c…**

**Let's get it started, then! **

TITANS'S TOWER, JUMP CITY, 4:42 P.M.

The tall, redheaded alien touched ground and stared up at the colossal "T"-shaped building in front of her. She hadn't laid eyes on this place in ten years, and it looks like it'd been that long since the place had undergone any external maintenance whatsoever. Numerous windows were either broken or missing, and one whole side of the horizontal line on the "T" had disappeared, making it look something like an upside-down "L".

The emerald-eyed alien typed in an access code in a keypad by the front door. The door slid aside as the girl remembered her friends' last words to her…

Flashback:

_She sat on the edge of the roof with her small backpack beside her. She was looking out over the waves of the ocean,_ _admiring the beautiful planet before her. She would never see it again, most likely. She took in a quick breath as realization swept over her._

_She may never see Robin again._

_The alien felt like crying, and at that moment a shadow fell over her and a black-haired teen sat down beside her. For a moment there was silence, a comfortable silence, before Robin spoke. _

"_I… Star, I've been meaning to… uh… tell you this… and… difficult, it's difficult, you see… I really don't know how to… y' know, put this… ah… eh… oh, never mind, Starfire, I'm really going to miss you, though. I really am," the boy repeated, as if he couldn't say it enough. "Keep in contact, you hear? I want to know how my..." here he paused, as if it pained him to call her his best friend, "best… friend… is doing." He sighed, and they stood, and the two hugged as a pale girl in a leotard; a half man, half robot; and a green, scrawny teen appeared on the roof._

"_Dude… ette… I'm like… soooo gonna miss you! Yo, like, think of us every day, don't forget about the Titans, cuz we ain't never gonna forget about you," Beast Boy said._

"_Yeah, girl, you better not forget about us. And take care of yourself, we don't want anyone beatin' up on our girl," Cyborg added._

"_Though she could just call us if she needed help," Raven finished._

"_But she won't need help, Starfire can take care of herself," Robin reassured the alien, turning to her. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but shut it again. "Goodbye, Star. I… I..." he sighed. "'Bye."_

_And she had lifted off, and left her friends behind. _

_Little did she know that when she was not even visible anymore and Beast Boy and Cyborg had left to try to beat each other at video games, though their heart wasn't in it, and Raven was walking across the roof to the stairs to go meditate, leaving Robin alone on the roof, the empath had turned around and said, "I've always known you were afraid to admit your feelings, Robin, but that was one of the stupidest things you've ever done. Now she may never know."_

"_I… I… I have no clue what you're talking about," the Boy Wonder had lied, knowing that his friend was right. He would come to regret it._

End Flashback…

The alien entered the living room and looked around. The carpet was soggy from leaks, and there were broken dishes and glasses and books and such scattered around the room. The windows were missing; save one with so many cracks in it it looked like a spider's web. She sighed. Her friends were probably long gone. The tower wasn't even infested with robots as it had been when she had traveled to the future. It was empty.

She took a step forward, stepping into an invisible laser, and thirty miles away in a lab filled with computers, one half-man half-robot, and a green man shoving tofu down his throat, an alarm buzzed loudly.

"Holy shit," the robot-man said.

"What is it, Cy?" the green human asked his partner.

"Someone's in the tower," he replied, and started typing madly on a keyboard in front of him.

TITAN'S TOWER, JUMP CITY, 5:04 P.M.

Starfire sat down on the couch. She didn't know what else to do, so she just sat down and cried. How would she find her friends? How would she find her Robin? She cried harder just at the thought of him. He could be dead by now. Her shoulders racked with sobs.

She couldn't stop. It took her fifteen minutes for her to recover, and then she still couldn't fly. She decided to get something to eat. Maybe she'd feel better.

The alien turned to lock the front door, and when she turned back around she banged her head on a chest of metal. She was knocked to the ground, and then she looked up at Cyborg.

"Hey, girl."

Starfire watched the trees speed by past the window of the C-Car, Cyborg's latest "baby". He was talking nonstop about how he and Beast Boy had been, and what adventures they had.

"…and then I invented this new piece of micro-technology. It's amazin', really, what this stuff can do! I mean, all my new tech… I'm doin'—"

"And what of Raven?" (a/n: Wow, that's the first time she's talked!)

"Huh?"

"What of friend Raven? What has become of her?"

"Oh. Well, she quit second, after Robin." The name sent shivers down the alien's spine. "And I think she's working in some magic show somewhere. She hates it, but everyone's doin' what they can nowadays to make money. Oh, here we are, home sweet home!" Cyborg said happily as the C-Car pulled into a short driveway. At the end was a small white house. Beast Boy was waving eight arms-- no, tentacles, rather—around wildly in the air. Cyborg had called him the minute he'd found out Starfire was back. The two got out of the car as it came to a stop and for once Starfire could feel her ability of flight slowly coming back—but it wasn't there yet.

"STAR!" The excited changeling yelled, jumping up and down, enveloping the alien in a huge bear hug. Literally.

"OhmyGodyou'rebackandthat'ssoawesomecuzyouhaventbeenaroundheresincelikeeverandwe'vemissedyouandRobinwillwanttoknowwhereyouarebutwedontcallhimbutRavensurewillandwestillcallherallthetimesothatshouldbeeasy!" Beast Boy said, all in one breath. He was blue when he finished.

"Um… yes, friend Beast Boy… I am feeling the happiness to be back as well."

"C'mon, Star, lemme show you 'round the place," Cyborg said, opening the door and giving her a grand tour.

When Starfire had seen everything she wanted to see (and then some… Beast Boy's room was unnecessary) the threesome plopped down onto the couch. Cyborg sighed.

"Friend Cyborg?"

"Yeah, Star?"

"May we go see friend Robin now?"

There was an unnerving pause.

"There's a few things you might want to know about Rob, Star."

"Such as what, friend Cyborg?"

"Firstly, we don't know where he lives." Starfire could have sworn her heart stopped beating in her chest. What could the second thing be? And then it hit her. Cyborg didn't even need to say it.

But he did. "Star? Robin's married."

**Ending Author Note: Alrighty. Again, to all you RobinxStarfire fans, this IS a RobinxStarfire fic. I am a huge supporter of them, and they will ALWAYS be in my fics. If you read the next chapter, you'll find out what happens in this RobinxStarfire deal, but only if you review will you get to read. So review already! Please.**


	2. Of Knowledge, Pizza, and Bags

**Author Note: I really don't have anything to say, except for, please review, and that I'm very sorry about this short chapter and the boring one I expect to follow. Vewwy sowwy. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. They belong to someone else. –cry-**

**On with chapter two…**

**>>>>**

"_Firstly, we don't know where he lives." Starfire could have sworn her heart stopped beating in her chest. What could the second thing be? And then it hit her. Cyborg didn't even need to say it._

_But he did. "Star? Robin's married."_

The alien was silent. What an idiot she had been to even hope Robin loved her. His heart belonged to someone else. It always would. She couldn't have been happier that she hadn't told him how she felt. She would have made a fool of herself.

"But Star, he was… like… forced to," Beast Boy added.

Starfire looked at her green friend, not even noticing the tears blurring her eyesight. "What did you say, friend Beast Boy?"

"He was forced to. Kitten. She's gotten stronger, somehow. And Killer Moth is still in jail. She didn't even have any help."

The alien sighed. "But we still are unaware of his location of dwelling."

"Maybe Raven will know," Cyborg suggested. "Let's pay her a visit."

>>>>

834 PICLA PARKWAY, STEEL CITY, 6:24 P.M.

The metal on his fist made the cold, steel door ring after the bangs evaporated. There was some shuffling inside, and Raven, dressed in a pink robe and leotard, came to the door.

"Hey, guys! Waddup!" she asked. Cyborg and Starfire stared at her with their bottom jaws on the floor.

"Happy?" Beast Boy asked, recognizing the freed emotion.

"That's me, BB. So, you guys wanna come in, maybe grab a bite? And who's the girl?"

"This is Starfire, Happy, and you two should be good friends. You already know Cyborg, of course."

"Do I ever! So, like, want some Peeps?" she erupted into a fit of giggles.

Her pink robe suddenly turned yellow, a pair of circular glasses appeared on the tip of her nose, and she stopped giggling and dropped the box of marshmallows.

"Salutations, friends. May I interest you in some edible materials?"

"Knowledge? What's going on? Why are you all coming out of Nevermore?"

"I believe that the Raven you are most familiar with has been analyzing the situations inside Nevermore, such as Happy and Hatred constantly arguing, and has come to the conclusion that it shall do all of her emotions a bit of good to escape the never-ending prison of her mind and see the light of day, reality, and so on and so forth. I am quite proud to say I assisted in the matter of deciding on a proper solution for the problem, and the act of finding a way to bring us out. I came to the conclusion that if Raven is an almost perfect clone of any one chosen emotion, that emotion shall find it quite easier to locate the portal out of Raven's mind and leave Nevermore. However, since the emotion thus far shown to the public cannot physically, psychologically, and, above all, emotionally, clone itself to look, act, and feel like another emotion, it is most difficult for one emotion to find the portal when another is using the body of the Raven you know. However, I, being who I am, had the sense and, pardon the pun, knowledge to find the portal and find a way to make it easier for me to undergo the usage of it." Knowledge pushed the glasses up on her nose.

Beast Boy was holding his head, screaming something about information burning him, Cyborg was recording Knowledge's speech and replaying it so slowly the words barely made sense, and Starfire was nodding, understanding perfectly.

There was silence for a moment, before Knowledge's cloak became navy blue and her glasses disappeared.

"What are you three doing here?" Raven asked. "Starfire?"

Starfire looked at her other two friends, Beast Boy running around like a madman, still screaming, Cyborg standing with his ear almost right up against his arm, where his voice-activated recorder was, listening to the uncomprehendable sounds coming out of it.

"Perhaps it is best that we talk over pizza… After we give our friends some time to… what Beast Boy says… 'cool down'."

Raven looked at the two men. She nodded. Starfire was right. The half-demon only wondered how they would be able to get them to calm down.

>>>>

"One pepperoni with sausage, bacon, ham, and extra cheese, please," Cyborg said.

"Dude, what don't you get about _veggie-_tarian?" Beast Boy asked, putting extra emphasis on "veggie".

"How can you not like the meaty goodness of MEAT!" Cyborg shouted, causing the restaurant to empty. Quickly.

The waiter began to shake. "I want a no-dairy cheese pizza," Beast Boy said, and the waiter scribbled it down.

"I would like a pizza with chocolate sauce, pineapple, salami, bananas, the seafood scallops, watermelon, corn, and spaghetti."

The waiter began to shake more than ever. He turned slightly green, too.

Starfire cocked her head. "Are you not going to write my order down on your small, rectangular piece of pulped trees?"

"You m—m—mean y—you weren't—t kidd--d—ing?" The waiter was now fully terrified.

Starfire smiled. "No, I was not doing this 'kidding' you speak of."

The waiter nodded, still trembling, and looked to Raven. "I'm not hungry."

The waiter went—no, fled, rather—to the kitchen.

"So, Starfire, how was Tamaran?" Cyborg asked her between bites of his pizza, after the waiter had returned.

There was silence. Cyborg and Beast Boy looked up from their meals (Raven looked up from her book). Starfire was staring out a window of the pizza place. The three turned around to see a blonde woman saying something to a walking stack of shopping bags. Starfire squinted, and gasped.

"Kitten…" the alien said.

It took the foursome three seconds to get out of the pizza place and within earshot of Kitten and her moving bags.

"Come _on, _you slow, good-for-nothing slob! It's a good thing you're cute, or I'd divorce you in a flash, Robbie-poo."

Starfire gasped. "Robin…"

**Ending Author Note: Well? And yes, you're going to figure out why Robin doesn't kick Kitten's ass into dust. In the next chapter, probably. Anyway, please review, and sorry that was so short. If you review (hint-hint) chapter 3 will be longer. And all you Avatar fans out there, read my Avatar fic, titled Change in the Winds. Thanks.**


	3. Of Kittens, Garbage, and Vile Bile

**Author Note: You guys ROCK! Warm fuzzies to all you reviewers… well, I suppose you deserve something else… -gives crowd Happy's peeps-… I'm getting off-subject, aren't I? **

**Dedication: To the following reviewers: Blue Star 1908 (BTW I read your fic Deep Sleep. Keep it up!); and above all, PheonixClaw for her wonderful constructive criticism; and, of course, all my other reviewers (sorry, I'm too lazy to name everyone!); and all those Robin x Starfire fans out there… never let those Robin x Raven scenes in "The End" change your mind! Long live all SxR shippers!**

**NOTE: THIS CHAPTER IS EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY SHORT. DON'T LIKE IT? TOO BAD. (Whew. Rather blunt.)**

Starfire almost leapt out from behind the piles of trash bags where the four ex-Titans were hiding. She probably would have if Raven stopped her. "Stop it, Starfire. If Kitten sees us she'll do whatever Robin is working so hard to prevent her from doing," Raven hissed.

"But Robin--!" Raven clamped a hand over the alien's mouth as Kitten turned to the pile of trash and the pile of shopping bags imploded. Soon there was a black-haired, handsome man wearing a mask and business suit in the middle of bags, clothes, hats, purses, and more. This distracted Kitten as Robin eyed the pile of trash with curiosity. From that distance he couldn't recognize Starfire's voice.

"ROBIN, YOU GOOD-FOR-NOTHING WEAKLING! I SHOULD PRESS THE BUTTON THIS INSTANT!" Kitten screamed, attracting the attention of everyone in a 500-yard radius. Which were four teens and an old man leaning on a mahogany cane.

Robin's mask grew wide and it resembled an eight on its side. "Please, no, Kitten… Kitten, dear… please…"

"That's what I thought. Now gather up my bags and drive me home. Now."

"Yes, Kitten. Of course."

The four teens watched as the pair walked away and disappeared. As soon as they were out of earshot, Starfire began her cursing-out of Kitten. "Glet morgaph blufe denboopler peelaploo glemborf bludempool GLUDEMPFERT!"

"We have to help him. We need to find out what this 'button' is that Kitten was talking about. And then we need to destroy it. Follow them," Raven said.

The four Titans followed the car, a pink Mustang, to a large mansion be the sea. Raven volunteered to go inside the mansion by way of teleportation and watch the couple. The rest would peek in any windows they could find.

Raven watched Kitten plop herself down on the couch and channel surf, eventually watching a roamnce-ysoap opera. It didn't take her too long to send Robin to work, fetching her chocolates and such. Raven was disgusted. Their great leader, Robin, Boy Wonder, doing a spoiled brat's dirty work. She wanted to get the chance to talk to him personally, find out what "the button" really was.

It wasn't long before she got the chance—Kitten made him take out the garbage, which required a hike down their thousand-foot long driveway.

The telekinetic watched the man sigh, pick up the bag that smelled something like truffles and wine, and trudge out the door… and trip over an oddly colored dog, a man made mostly of metal, and, of course, the Tamaranian.

(A/N: You can't imagine how much I want to stop this chapter right here … but it's way too short, and already boring, so…)

"Cyborg? Beast… STARFIRE!" The alien basically launched herself into Robin's arms.

"Oh, Robin! I am most overjoyed to see you! Though the Kitten seems to have done the washing of the brain on you. Or are you ill? Surely such a state would make the brainwashing easier to perform…"

By now Starfire was nearly cutting off Robin's air supply.

"Star…" he gasped, "I'm… really, really… hap-py… to… see… you but… I can't… bre-e-athe…"

She let him go immediately, blushing. Robin put his hands on his knees and drew in a few deep, deep breaths.

By now Robin noticed—and really noticed, not just glanced at—the other three people.

"Raven? Beastboy? Cyborg? What are youguys doing here?"

"We've come to save you from that _demon,_" said Beastboy, pointing to the house as if it were a pile of vile bile (A/N: O.o I can't believe I just wrote that).

"Yeah, man… what's up with her?" Cyborg said, looking at the mansion with equal distaste. "What's up with _you?_"

Robin chuckled nervously, for whatever reason. "Uhm… she… she made me marry her…"

"We knew this, Friend Robin, but what did the Kitten do to make you do this 'holy matrimony' with her?"

"It's… it's a really, really long sto—"

"RO-O-O-O-OOOOBBY POOOOO! YOU'RE TAKING AN AAAAAAAWFULLY LOOOOOONG TI-I-I-I-I-I-I-IME! I NEED MY FOOOOOT MASSAGE!"

Robin glanced at the house hurriedly. "Look, I really have to go. I'll talk to you guys later. If you come back at"—he glanced at his watch—"seven thirty sharp, we may be able to… ah… catch up a little. I have to… ah… go."

With that he disappeared back into the house, leaving the stinking pile of garbage outside.

"Perhaps it is just me, but that was odd, yes?"

**AN: I owe you guys an explanation. I really, really, REALLY do:**

**Here's the deal: I got started with all my Avatar fictions and kept saying to myself, "Wow, even though 'Gone for a Second' has the most reviews, that's a really sucky story. I can't finish that crap!" So I didn't. I didn't even try. Now, I don't know if I'm going to be continuing this story or not, but it isn't very high on my to-do list. Actually, it may not be on there at all. Depending on the number of reviews (smile).**

**WARNING: Contrary to my usual tradition, chapters on this story are not pre-written (and I hate myself for it. Pre-written chapters are sooo much easier). What does this mean? It takes me super-long to write them, and longer to update. Sorry, guys.**

**Now, that cursor of yours really has some catching up to do with that submit review button, don't you think…?**


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